Crime is declining in South Africa with fewer robberies, rapes and murders — but more than 50 people are still killed every day, police said on Monday.
Annual crime statistics showed that the murder rate dropped 4.7 percent on the previous year with 18,487 people killed from April last year to March.
Incidents of rape in the same period decreased 8.8 percent but a staggering 36,000 women were raped last year. The number of children murdered increased by 22.2 percent, police said.
South Africa has one of the highest murder and rape rates in the world, earning it an international reputation for violence.
The government welcomed the decline but said the level of crime was still much too high as it prepares to host the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.
“[The] government is still concerned that while they are going down, the levels of crime continue to be unacceptably high,” Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula said. “[It] would have wanted to see a more drastic decrease.”
Nqakula said the drop in the number of rapes was not an indication that the “scourge is lessening.”
Figures show that the murder level is at its lowest since 1994 and serious violent crimes such as robbery, assault and attempted murder decreased by 6.4 percent.
However, house robberies increased by 13.5 percent and carjackings by 4.4 percent while robberies at businesses rose 47.4 percent.
Chris De Kock, head of crime information management for the police, said the number of children under the age of 18 who had been murdered had increased from 1,152 to 1,410.
He called this “a very, very serious issue.” The number of attempted murders of children increased by 13.7 percent as well.
De Kock said most children murdered were between the ages of 16 and 18 and that most were killed by other children. Many incidents were gang related.
Johan Burger, analyst with the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said the statistics were “good news” for South Africans.
However, he said the increases in robberies of homes and small businesses are bad for the economy.
Police director Andre Pruis said the country’s security plan for the 2010 soccer tournament had been submitted to the world soccer governing body in Geneva on Monday.
Pruis said police have received 665 million rand (US$84.5 million) for equipment, including 10 water cannons, six helicopters and 10 unmanned aircraft fitted with cameras.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS